Avalanche-Oilers Preview

Associated Press

The Colorado Avalanche's recent offensive struggles on the road have them mired in their worst losing streak of the season.

The Avalanche look to get their offense on track and avoid their first five-game skid away from home in nearly four years when they meet the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

Colorado (11-8-1) has lost a season-high three straight and four of its last five, totaling eight goals in that stretch. The Avalanche have mustered just one goal in each game during the slide - all on the road - and have allowed 14.

They fell 4-1 at Calgary on Tuesday, giving them three consecutive defeats for the first time since Feb 22-25. Colorado hasn't lost four in a row since last Nov. 7-15.

"I thought across the board everybody worked hard and did what we wanted to do as far as everybody contributing from shift to shift," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said after Tuesday's game. "I think we've got to build off and get excited about the next game because if you do those things right you'll generally come up with something."

Colorado is in the midst of its second four-game road skid of the season, but might welcome a visit to Edmonton, where it has won six of its last eight - including a 4-2 victory on Oct. 23.

The Avalanche are looking to avoid losing five consecutive road games for the first time since March 16-31, 2004. To avoid that mark, they will need increased production from top scorers Paul Stastny, Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski, who have totaled one goal and one assist during the three-game skid.

Colorado is also seeking to improve its power play on the road, which is the worst in the NHL at 7.3 percent (3-for-41). The Avalanche are 0-for-12 on the power play in the last three games.

Edmonton (8-12-1) is in last place in the Northwest Division, but avoided a third straight loss with a 5-4 shootout victory over Vancouver on Tuesday. The Oilers scored three power-play goals after going 0-for-12 with the man advantage in their previous three games.

"It's a huge relief for us," said center Shawn Horcoff, who had a goal and an assist on the power play as well as the decisive shootout goal. "We've been moving it pretty well but we obviously weren't getting the results. We worked very hard on it in practice and were finally able to do it."

Mathieu Garon made 20 saves to win for the third time in his last four starts and help Edmonton end a four-game slide at home.

These teams meet again next Wednesday in Colorado, where the Avalanche are 9-1-0 this season compared to a 2-7-1 mark away from the Pepsi Center.